Customer Reviews

Length of Growth 81-89

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Ron House, the leader of Great Plains, may be one of the most underrated geniuses of American music. Punk and literate, he is like a well adjusted David Thomas (Pere Ubu). Unfortunately his fame, such that it is, is confined to a small part of Ohio. Too bad, he writes smart, funny songs and has a knack for memorable melodies. He wraps the package in winningly simple and passionately played punk and post-punk rock.

This collection has just about everything recorded by Great Plains and has a charming intro by Dr. Demento. All of the "hits" you remember from college radio circa 1987 are here. Letter to a Fanzine, Standing at the Crosswords, Martin Luther King and Matin Luther Drinking, etc. Lyrics are about sex, drinking and history. The music is rootsy punk with farfisa. House doesn't so much sing as declaim and cajole with amatuerish passion. As American as all get out.

Paul Nini here, proprietor of Old 3C Records, who released this Great Plains compilation. Our manufacturing and distribution partner at that time, NuGruv Alliance, no longer exists -- so finding this release can be problematic at best. Please go to our site -- www.old3c.com -- if you'd like more information concerning this release. Thanks much.

I've been looking for this a long time and didn't even know it. Sure, I grooved to "Letter to a Fanzine" back in the mid-80s, and heard "Standing at the Crosswords" later, but I had never been able to find any Great Plains anywhere. Now I'm in heaven, discovering new-old songs from a dead age, thanks to the Internet.

That said, this is probably too much for the casual fan. If you're interested, I found a cassette copy of "Sum Things Up" on the Homestead/D.E.I. website, which hooked me into seeking out the cd. And the earlier tracks are pretty unpolished, not always in a good way, and lack the sense of melody that crept into later work. But if you have the patience, "Length of Growth" is a gold mine. It's been years since I happened on a tune as fine as "Dick Clark," and that's just the tip of the iceberg. So if you have a soft spot for witty cranky 80s college rock (as do I) spiked with cheesy keyboards, this is worth checking out (and fifty songs for $14--can't beat that!).

Great Plains, I must tell you, were not recognized as a great band in their time by a lot of people who saw them in Columbus campus area bars in the '80's, usually as an opening act for somebody better known. Ron House's offbeat eloquence was difficult to grasp when encountered for the first time in live performance. The band's performances could be frantic and, to put it mildly, unpolished, and they were even thrown off the stage once at Columbus's annual 'Comfest,' not exactly a venue with high standards for musicianship. It was on record that the creativity came through, as this compilation attests. Little known and misunderstood in their day, Great Plains were one of the great quirky-sloppy bands of the '80's, and House is, beyond the sarcasm and occasionally annoying in-jokes, a lyricist of keen and poignant whimsy. And (some of) the tunes have hooks! May this CD set rise to well above the bottom of the charts, and bring a reassessment.